Journal: Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Volume: JBMW 21:2 (Fall 2016)
Article: A Review Of Mark A. Yarhouse. "Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues In A Changing Culture." Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2015. 186 Pp. $16.00.
Author: J. Alan Branch

JBMW 21:2 (Fall 2016) p. 57

A Review Of Mark A. Yarhouse. Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues In A Changing Culture. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2015. 186 Pp. $16.00.

J. Alan Branch

Professor of Christian Ethics
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Kansas City, Missouri

How do we as Christians approach the issue of transgenderism/transsexualism and maintain a faithful biblical witness? In Understanding Gender Dysphoria, Mark A. Yarhouse, professor of psychology at Regent University in Virginia Beach, provides the most extensive discussion to date from an evangelical Christian perspective regarding gender identity and transsexualism. Yarhouse has extensive clinical contact with people experiencing gender dysphoria and offers many compassionate suggestions, but at points it appears Yarhouse’s compassion possibly supersedes a commitment to the biblical standard of sexual identity.

Central to Yarhouse’s argument is the manner in which he compares and contrasts three different frameworks for conceptualizing gender dysphoria and transsexualism. First is what he calls the “integrity framework,” which is basically the biblical view that people should embrace their birth-sex and express themselves in gender-appropriate ways consistent with their birth. Second is the “disability framework,” which approaches gender dysphoria with reference to the mental health dimensions of the phenomenon. According to Yarhouse, Christians drawn to this perspective see gender dysphoria “as a result of living in a fallen world in which the condition—like so many other mental health concerns—is a nonmoral reality.” (48) Furthermore, the disability framework suggests the person has not specifically “chosen” to experience gender dysphoria. Finally, the “diversity framework” sees transgender issues as something to be celebrated, honored, or revered. Within this category, Yarhouse distinguishes between a “strong” form of diversity which “calls for the deconstruction of norms related to sex” as opposed to a “weak” form of diversity which “focuses primarily on identity and community.” (50) Yarhouse himself argues for an “integrated framework” and urges Christians to find the strengths in each perspective and to see them as “different lenses” through which we examine transgender issues.

Chapter 3, “What Causes Gender Dysphoria,” is an even-handed review of the major scientific

JBMW 21:2 (Fall 2016) p. 58

theories to date. Yarhouse spends most of his time discussing the “brain-sex” theory. What is this theory? In utero, the presence of testosterone early in development causes the development of male genitalia. According to the brain-...